Trump Did a Video Chat With Troops on Thanksgiving and MSNBC Can’t Handle it

An MSNBC panel took issue with the Thanksgiving video message President Donald Trump shared with deployed members of the U.S. Armed Forces on Thursday, in which he called the them “incredible, brave fighters,” and assured them that they would return to an America where the economy is strong.

According to The Daily Caller, host Stephanie Ruhle began by crediting Trump for giving the troops “a nice message, thanking them,” then turned to the panel for their reactions.

MSNBC analyst Robert Traynham was the first to weigh in following a heavy sigh, saying, “Two things. One, it’s nice for the president to do that. He’s the commander in chief. He should be thanking the men and women who serve and protect our freedoms.”

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Admitting that he might be “reading too much into this,” Traynham said that Trump’s message “didn’t seem to be very authentic.”

“It seemed to be heavily scripted,” he said.

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“I’m used to a president looking directly into the camera and thanking the men and women … for their service talking about them and not about ‘me,’ meaning the president,” said Traynham. “Talking about them and what they’re doing, not about, to use his words, a beautiful tax cut.”

“It was amazing to watch him in his message to the troops doing it right then and there, talking about how the reason we’re different is that this administration is letting you do your job, they’re letting you fight,” Greely said.

“These are all cultural signals,” he contended.

“The other guys, they won’t fight. They won’t let you fight,” Greely said. “We let you fight. That’s what you do for us.”

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Greely concluded by saying, “That was amazing to watch.”

Referring to the fight against the Islamic State group, Trump stated in his message to the troops, “Everybody’s talking about the progress you’ve made in the last few months.”

“We opened it up; we said go ahead, we’re going to fight to win,” Trump said. “We’re not fighting anymore to just walk around.”

“They weren’t letting you win before; they were letting you break even. … They weren’t letting you win,” Trump said.

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Niall Stanage, a contributor for The Hill who was also on the MSNBC panel, was next with his analysis, giving Trump credit for speaking to the troops.

“On one hand, yes, it’s an honorable thing to do,” Stanage said. “But this speech is kind of pockmarked by these political points and these partisan points.”

“The idea that previous presidents didn’t let the armed forces do their job. The idea … that you’re fighting for something real … the real thing appears to be a booming stock market? I mean, I’m perplexed.”